Victories for Fruta Conquerors and Alpha
HOST team Fruta Conquerors (FC) and national club champions Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United came out victorious last Friday night when action in the third annual Fruta Conquerors-organised, NAMILCO-sponsored Football Festival continued at the Tucville Playfield.
Playing in the first match on the third night of action in a tournament which has an attractive $500 000 as its first prize, FC were forced to rely on a 4-3 penalty kicks (1-1) victory over a stubborn Seawall United lineup.
In the feature match of the evening Alpha refused to let go of their stranglehold on football in Guyana despite being reduced to 10 men after their custodian Ronson Williams was issued marching orders by referee Mark Younge as they defeated Milerock from Linden 4-2, thanks to a brace from Shavane Seaforth.
A Tavis Hackett 17th minute strike placed the home team ahead and they kept the lead up to lemon-time, and three minutes after play resumed, at which point Ike Garraway beat FC’s custodian Oswald Cornette with a well-placed header from a corner kick that nullified Hackett’s goal.
With both teams finding it difficult to place the ball into the back of the net, thanks to some excellent custodial work from both Cornette and Seawall United’s Marvin Griffith who pulled off back-to-back saves with one of them being acrobatically executed, it was down to penalty kicks, from which FC prevailed 4-3.
That match-up served as the perfect appetiser for the Alpha/Milerock clash, with the reigning national club champions signalling their intentions to take the lead as early as the second minute of the match when a Shawn Bishop’s header went wide.
Seaforth got the first of his double in the sixth minute, when he played the perfect one-two combination with national striker Dwight Peters, who sent a low ball into Milerock’s 18-yard box where an unmarked Seaforth calmly placed same into the back of the net.
Not to be outdone, Milerock equalised a mere two minutes after when Oswald Benjamin, who was forced to go in between the uprights following an injury to regular custodian Clifton Halley, caught Williams off his line with a lobbed ball that went over the head of the national custodian.
A battle for supremacy ensued after, with the mining town team’s defence led by Keiron Cameron and supported by Dwain Fraser, shutting out Alpha’s strike force led by Seaforth and including Bishop, Peters, Dwain Jacobs and the overlapping Issa McPherson.
Even though he was not able to convert any of the chances presented to him, Peters who at times can be guilty of excess dribbling, was the perfect team player on the night when he sent a cross from midway inside Milerock’s half to Bishop who placed the ball into the back of the net, before the shrill sound of Younge’s whistle signalled lemon time with Alpha leading 2-1.
When play resumed, Milerock made numerous runs at Alpha’s goal but were thwarted by Williams along with his defensive lineup that included McPherson, national skipper Howard Lowe, Solomon Austin and Leon Grumble.
The ejection of Williams from the game n the 54th minute after he questioned Younge’s decision to book one of his teammates, did little for Milerock, as Alpha continued to attack their opponents as if they were the ones who had a man short.
Nine minutes after Williams’ ejection Milerock found themselves down 1-3 when their own player Jermaine McBean who had been in the game for a mere three minutes, scored an own goal from another cross by Peters that was intended for Bishop.
Seaforth should have scored a treble, but he missed an open goal with Benjamin out of position, following a cross from Bishop, but as Nigel ‘Powers’ Codrington did for Sunburst Camptown when they defeated Buxton United 4-2, he got his double when he beat Benjamin from just inside his own half in the 84th minute that placed Alpha in a comfortable position by the odd goal in four.
Austin did manage to find the back of the net, but unfortunately for Alpha, it was his own goal he scored in and not Milerock’s in the 90th minute of the game, which did little or anything to the cause for the Linden team who made a graceful exit from the tournament.
The action continues on Wednesday night with another double-header at the same venue, beginning from 18:00 h with New Amsterdam United taking on Rosignol United and from 20:00 h, BK International Western Tigers will square off against Riddim Squad.